Fire safety living in the country

[Jstpssng]

Paddy, thanks for the post. I am impressed that you were able to put that much of a system in for such a reasonable price. Seems like a no brainer for new construction. I alway thought it was much more pricey.

MarkV

I was surprised too at the low price.

 

[Paddy]

Dave,

Our house is all concrete, including the roof system. The roof, as all floors, are made of steel bar joist with 4" of concrete on top. The roof has foam insulation on top of the slab, osb decking and then roof rubber. It's a flat roof. Under the slab is mostly filled with insulation. the pex tube is laying on the top side of the dry wall, so under all the insulation.

If by chance it did freeze, Pex is freeze friendly. wouldn't do you much good in a fire though. So far, one year in use and no leaks.

Patrick t

 

[Paddy]

Mark,

yes, price is very low. I bought the sprinkler heads on line. Fire Safety Equipment and Supplies | American Fire Hose & Cabinet

If your runs are with in 10' of a bath/kitchen fixture, they do not need a dedicated line. Other wise, you need to use a back flow preventor to keep the stagnent water seperate. Having open bar joist made running the pex real fast

 

[forgeblast]

any one have experience with a Smoke Mask & Fire Hood Emergency Products smoke hood? are they worth the money?

 

[JRobyn]

I went even cheaper - just added a few 1/2" copper pipe drops in my existing domestic water system in the drive-under garage at likely trouble spots (over each vehicle, wood furnace, shop) and put in pendant sprinkler heads. Very simple, and surely not up to NFPA code, but gives me a lot of peace of mind.

 

[NY_Yankees_Fan]

Paddy,

Thanks for sharing your project and installing sprinklers in your home, most folks do not think about this very important occupant safety device.

Are the sprinklers you installed for residential use, or are they for commercial applications? Big difference between the two sprinklers. The residential sprinklers operate very quickly and throws the water across the ceiling to keep ceiling temperatures down to prevent room flash-over. A commercial sprinkler job is to get water down to the floor where combustibles are burning. Do your sprinklers look like any of theses??

Globe Fire Sprinkler Corporation

Did you also install smoke detectors in your home?

 

[NY_Yankees_Fan]

Sprinkler systems are mostly to save the building, not to save lives because the smoke will disorient you or kill you before it gets hot enough to trip the sprinkler heads. At least that's what I was told by a knowledgeable fire chief.

Smoke detectors are more effective in saving lives.Ken

Ken,

Actually fire sprinklers are fire life safety devices that will keep the fire small thus the smoke development is significantly less. Sprinklers installed in a manufacturing occupancy are different then where someone sleeps such as a hotel, hospital, jail, home,etc. These sprinklers are designed to operate very quickly during a fire. By code these quick response type of sprinklers have been required for 10 or more years. So not all sprinklers are the same. Also only the sprinkler that gets hot during a fire goes off. Most fires are controlled or extinguish by 1 or 2 sprinklers.

 

[Paddy]

Tom,

Yes, I have the fast responce residential types. I'm thinking 155 deg. I have smoke detectors per code, all tied together.

When I finaly get the basement/work shop completed I will have sprinkers down there as well.

 

[NY_Yankees_Fan]

Paddy,

Great news looks like you have done everything you can do for fire safety for your family. Lets hope you NEVER have to use it!

 

[orezok]

Ken,

Most fires are controlled or extinguish by 1 or 2 sprinklers.

Having supervised the installation of several million square feet of commercial space fire sprinklers (mostly public schools), the general consensus among the architects and engineers is that if a third head goes off in a fire, the building is lost!